Marguerite Bishop

I praise God for this wonderful Gospel and for all He has done for me. I am so glad that I am walking with the King day by day. I praise the Lord I heard this wonderful story when I was a young woman.

Many years ago, in 1920, God saved me, and I found something that has stood the test of time. That day, I walked into a little schoolhouse in Selma, Oregon and heard testimonies of people who had real salvation. Brother Clarence Frost and a group of saints from Medford, Oregon, came there to hold Gospel meetings and invited our family to the meetings. We had no car at the time, so Brother Frost picked us up. These people rented a vacant building next to the schoolhouse and stayed there during the week. They visited with people and held prayer meetings during the day, and services every night.

I never had gone to one of those places. Before I was married, I had gone to all the big churches and the Christian Endeavor and such things. I had an impression that those little places were full of fanaticism. But when I sat in those meetings and heard testimonies of people who had real salvation; I trembled like a leaf. I was so convicted that I didn’t know what to do. God showed me I was a sinner and needed to be saved. I had called myself a Christian because I belonged to a church and was active with the Sunday school and young people, but I was very far from being a Christian. I didn’t know there was such a thing as living without sin in your life. I would ask God to forgive me, but the next day I would do the very same thing again. I didn’t know that the Scripture said, “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin.”  God called me that day. I had two small children at the time, so I handed my baby to somebody and ran to the altar. I praise God that He really saved my soul and transformed my life. When I heard the truth I wanted it at any cost, even if I had to walk alone. I was truly born again. I had such joy and peace in my heart that I didn’t have before.

When I heard the truth I wanted it at any cost, even if I had to walk alone.

A few days later I was sanctified. From then on, I could get down by my bed and ask God to keep me that day and He would do it. I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit at the next camp meeting in Portland, Oregon. At the close of camp meeting, I was baptized in water in the Willamette River.

I was married on July 4, 1916 to James William Bishop, and we had nine children. The Lord saved my husband and helped us to raise our family in the Gospel. We never gave the children a drop of medicine, and He healed them every time they were sick. God showed me there was healing through the Blood of the Lamb.

I had a little boy who couldn’t walk. The doctors said he would never be able to walk and that he would always be in a wheelchair. I knew God could heal him. I brought him to the camp meeting in 1920, and the Lord healed him so he could walk. The Lord has been my healer these many years.

I wasn’t near a church for years, but the Lord was with me and gave me the privilege of teaching my children the Word of God. I praise Him that they are all saved today and for this wonderful Gospel!

Marguerite Bishop was born in Ellensburg, Washington, on June 12, 1896. She was saved in February 1920 in Selma, Oregon. Three of her sons became ministers in the Apostolic Faith Church and all three of her daughters became minister’s wives. She taught Sunday school, sang in the choir, went to rest homes, cooked for missions, and played organ or piano for mission meetings.